Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years or are the last person on earth who doesn’t use Facebook, you’ve undoubtedly come across a Buzzfeed Tasty recipe video. You know the ones--bright, short videos giving you a birds-eye view of a cooktop or mixing bowl and showing a breakdown of a recipe. Continuing with our cult brand case studies, today we wanted to take a look at how Tasty has created a recipe for a fantastic content marketing strategy.
Tasty may only be about three years old, but already their YouTube channel has more than eight million subscribers and a total of more than one and a half billion views. Yes, billion. The Tasty empire does fall under the Buzzfeed umbrella, which was obviously helpful in becoming the digital powerhouse it is today with their 163 million monthly readers, but Tasty also found a niche and jumped on it: food porn. Since its inception, Tasty has also expanded from mere videos to an app, customizable cookbooks and even their very own line of cooktops. And, as of March 2018, they are partnering with Walmart to sell a Tasty-branded line of cookware.
While instructional recipe videos have been around for a while now, Tasty also captured their target audience, Millennials and Gen Z, by coming up with recipes that might appeal to a younger palate. On their site, you can, of course, find simple seafood or steak recipes, but you can also find anything from Rainbow Hummus to Rosé Gummy Bears to Inside-Out Fried Chicken Tacos. Younger generations are all about being unique, so why not cook unique? Tasty also knows the attention span gets shorter and shorter with each new generation, so the videos average between 60 and 90 seconds.
Additionally, the production quality of the short videos is incredible. Bright colors on a clean cutting board or table top with the names of the ingredients popping up in the corner as the anonymous hands cook, chop or sauté away, all to the tune of upbeat house music. A link to the written recipe is also included with each video so the viewer can read the details for themselves. There’s just something addictive about watching someone cook or bake something in less than two minutes, but unfortunately, sometimes the finished product doesn’t always come out perfect the first time. From time to time, the brand will also share videos of just how many attempts it takes to get that final, perfect take.
The videos are tailor-made for social media viewing and have become ubiquitous on the social media feeds of every millennial; and, thanks to Facebook’s autoplay, you don’t even have actually to click on the video to watch it--it just starts playing if you stop scrolling. With the addition of Tasty, it’s no surprise that Buzzfeed reaches three out of every five U.S. millennials per month.
At EMB, we are in constant awe of marketing giants like this. Check out our site to learn more about our services and take a look at some of the other cult brands we’ve highlighted.
